MOSCOW - Russia's parliament took a first step Wednesday toward banning the adoption of Russian children by American parents, a move intended as retaliation for an anti-corruption law recently passed by Congress. The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, voted 399 to 17 in favor of a bill that included the ban and also would annul an adoption agreement between the two countries that Russia ratified in July. The measure still has to be approved by the upper house and signed by President Vladimir Putin, who has sent mixed signals about his support.

Re "Crimea upends West's view of Putin," March 7 No one should be the least bit surprised by Russian President Vladimir Putin's Crimean power grab. For the last several years, LGBT activists have been trying to warn the world about how dangerous Putin is. But until recently, few journalists outside the gay community took our reports seriously. We were even criticized for trying to "politicize" the Sochi Olympics. It is disappointing this article draws no connection between the two issues, because anyone familiar with Putin's current anti-gay pogrom could have told you long ago that Putin is "living in another world" and that he will stop at nothing to expand his power.

The 15-year-old twins sleep among trash and dirt in a nook under a railway platform and spend their days at a Salvation Army shelter in a grim Moscow neighborhood. But Denis and his sister Olesya prefer being homeless to living with their parents in Elektrostal, 36 miles east of the capital. They say their mother abused them physically and verbally, then kicked them out in July, telling them to find jobs.

MOSCOW -- A judge on Thursday found Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian whistleblower who died in custody in 2009, guilty of tax evasion, bringing an end to an unusual, posthumous trial that drew international condemnation and eroded U.S.-Russian relations. The ruling against Magnitsky, a lawyer who disclosed an alleged multimillion-dollar scam, was largely symbolic. Judge Igor Alisov of Moscow's Tverskoy district declared the case closed and there was no judgment against Magnitsky's estate.

Six Russian children were killed while bathing in a lake when a faulty underwater power line short-circuited and electrocuted them, Russian RTR state television reported Saturday. RTR said four boys and two girls, between 9 and 14 years old, were in the small lake outside the central Russian city of Penza when electric cables leading to an old water pump short-circuited. The children died at the scene. Another boy who was seriously injured remained hospitalized, RTR said.

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Thursday that he expects to sign a measure banning adoptions of Russian children by Americans, an act intended as retaliation for an anti-corruption law signed by President Obama this month. "There are probably many places in the world where the standard of living is higher than here," Putin said in televised remarks during a Kremlin meeting. "So what? Shall we send all our children there? Maybe we should all move there too, shouldn't we?"

Russia has frozen all adoptions to the United States, the Foreign Ministry announced Thursday as national outrage simmered over a towheaded 7-year-old boy sent alone on a plane back to Moscow by his adoptive mother. A U.S. delegation is due in Moscow within days to discuss the crisis. Russia is pressing the United States to sign an agreement that would more carefully screen would-be parents and monitor the families after their return to the United States, Foreign Ministry officials have said.

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin left little room for maneuvering Thursday when he suggested he was likely to sign the so-called Dima Yakovlev law, which would ban adoptions of Russian children by Americans. The measure, which includes other sanctions against the United States, is intended as a response to an American law passed by Congress and signed by President Obama earlier this month. The Sergei Magnitsky Act denies visas to Russian officials involved in the prosecution and death of a Russian lawyer and whistleblower who called attention to alleged official corruption.

Americans adopted 5-year-old Alisa Magomedova, a very bright and very angry little girl. At her orphanage outside Moscow, workers are happy for Alisa. Some shake their heads. "I can only admire American parents who adopt Russian children," says Tamara Plotkina, chief pediatrician at the Tomilino Orphanage. "But I think sometimes they are naive. These children's problems are insurmountable." About 230,000 children are housed in the state orphanage system.

It's hard to value education when a high school dropout pushing canned peas in a kiosk earns more than a physics professor. It's hard to talk up honesty when flashy mafiosi zip around in BMWs while shamefaced retirees beg in the subway. It's even hard to respect the law when police demand bribes and court rulings draw scorn. In these tumultuous times, Russian parents are finding it tough to offer their children much moral guidance.

MOSCOW -- In the largest show of public discontent since President Vladimir Putin's inauguration last May, thousands of demonstrators marched through downtown Moscow to protest a new law banning the adoption of Russian orphans by U.S. families. The crowd, holding portraits of Putin and about 600 lawmakers who voted for the controversial bill, filled Moscow's Boulevard Ring, a procession that resembled old-time Communist May Day celebrations. In this case, though, the portraits had the word “shame” written across the faces.

MOSCOW - A law allowing Americans to adopt Russian children will remain valid for another year despite Moscow's recent controversial decision to end the practice, the Kremlin said Thursday. The adoption agreement signed by Russia and the United States in June will run until January 2014 because the agreement calls for it to remain active for a year after either of the parties chooses to end it, officials said. “The agreement is active now,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin.

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin left little room for maneuvering Thursday when he suggested he was likely to sign the so-called Dima Yakovlev law, which would ban adoptions of Russian children by Americans. The measure, which includes other sanctions against the United States, is intended as a response to an American law passed by Congress and signed by President Obama earlier this month. The Sergei Magnitsky Act denies visas to Russian officials involved in the prosecution and death of a Russian lawyer and whistleblower who called attention to alleged official corruption.

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Thursday that he expects to sign a measure banning adoptions of Russian children by Americans, an act intended as retaliation for an anti-corruption law signed by President Obama this month. "There are probably many places in the world where the standard of living is higher than here," Putin said in televised remarks during a Kremlin meeting. "So what? Shall we send all our children there? Maybe we should all move there too, shouldn't we?"

MOSCOW - Russia's parliament took a first step Wednesday toward banning the adoption of Russian children by American parents, a move intended as retaliation for an anti-corruption law recently passed by Congress. The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, voted 399 to 17 in favor of a bill that included the ban and also would annul an adoption agreement between the two countries that Russia ratified in July. The measure still has to be approved by the upper house and signed by President Vladimir Putin, who has sent mixed signals about his support.

Russia has frozen all adoptions to the United States, the Foreign Ministry announced Thursday as national outrage simmered over a towheaded 7-year-old boy sent alone on a plane back to Moscow by his adoptive mother. A U.S. delegation is due in Moscow within days to discuss the crisis. Russia is pressing the United States to sign an agreement that would more carefully screen would-be parents and monitor the families after their return to the United States, Foreign Ministry officials have said.

Re "Crimea upends West's view of Putin," March 7 No one should be the least bit surprised by Russian President Vladimir Putin's Crimean power grab. For the last several years, LGBT activists have been trying to warn the world about how dangerous Putin is. But until recently, few journalists outside the gay community took our reports seriously. We were even criticized for trying to "politicize" the Sochi Olympics. It is disappointing this article draws no connection between the two issues, because anyone familiar with Putin's current anti-gay pogrom could have told you long ago that Putin is "living in another world" and that he will stop at nothing to expand his power.

What do you say when meeting a little boy who knows he soon will be dead? Start with a neutral question: "So, Sasha, how old are you?" "How old I am. . . ," the pale youngster repeated, contemptuously. Sasha, whose eyes have dark half-circles of exhaustion under them, tugged at his faded T-shirt, looked away and muttered to himself, "I'm 20 years old." "Sasha, tell your uncle the truth," his mother said. "He's 5 years old," she added helpfully.

The 15-year-old twins sleep among trash and dirt in a nook under a railway platform and spend their days at a Salvation Army shelter in a grim Moscow neighborhood. But Denis and his sister Olesya prefer being homeless to living with their parents in Elektrostal, 36 miles east of the capital. They say their mother abused them physically and verbally, then kicked them out in July, telling them to find jobs.

Kristina was 5 when she was found curled on a barroom floor, pockmarked from syphilis and terrified of affection. Fifteen-year-old Zhenya, who makes his home on a grime-caked heating vent, asked shyly for something to read--"science fiction, preferably"--to fill his school-less, aimless, hopeless days. Nine-year-old Masha urinated behind a trash heap, a moment of escape from a broken family. For many Russians, these children are cause to despair at the future of their country.